I love being surrounded by sandstone. I was on vacation this past week in Durango, Colorado and Moab, Utah. A couple of weeks ago I was in St. George area and spent a soul satisfying afternoon at Gunlock Falls and Gunlock Reservoir.
I found myself asking, “Why does being in red rock country feel so healing to me?” I thought a lot about it as I hiked in Arches and Canyonlands, drove on state road 184 in Colorado, paddled down the Upper Animas River and soaked in the hot springs at the Durango Resort.
Obvious answer would be it is hard to be stressed and anxious surrounded by stunning views of striated sandstone carved for thousands of years of wind and sculpted by water into arches, spires, pinnacles and cliffs. The views always bring peace to my soul.
I found a book by Terry Tempest Williams called Red Patience and Passion in the Desert. Her words are poetry and speak to me at my core. “Desert as teacher. Desert as mirage. Desert as illusion, largely our own. What you come to see on the surface is not what you come to know. Emptiness in the desert is the fulness of space, a fulness of space that eliminates time. The desert is time, exposed time, geologic time. One needs time in the desert to see.
I am so grateful to be able to “see” all I have seen the last few days. Each majestic view, small desert flower, sound of birdsong and sigh of the wind is a manifestation to me of God’s love.
